Some gifts do not go through checkout. You might receive a check in the mail, record donated stock, enter a company matching gift, or add a gift that was missed earlier. This article explains how to record those gifts by hand when there is no order, invoice, or payment behind the record. You can also split the gift, credit other donors, record a tribute, and assign a thank-you gift.
Before You Begin
Prerequisites
- You need access to Gifts in the Fundraising Console.
- Know the giver’s name. If they are not already a contact or organization, you can add them from this form.
When a donation goes through checkout, use Fundraising's gift workflow or an order flow that includes the donation so Fundraising creates the gift automatically. Use manual entry when the transaction did not go through one of those paths, such as a mailed check. You can also use manual entry when the donation’s invoice or payment already exists elsewhere and you only need the Fundraising gift record, without duplicating the financials.
Tip
You do not have to enter gifts one at a time. You can bring in donation history in bulk from Security & Settings › Custom Data Tasks › Import Records. If Import Records is not available for your account, ask Support to enable it.
Tip
If a donation order did not create the gift you expected, you generally cannot attach that existing order to a donor's Fundraising record later. Create a separate manual gift for the correct donor so the donation appears in their giving history. The same applies when a donation payment processed successfully but no gift record appeared: create the gift by hand for the correct donor as an interim step while you review why the automatic gift was not created.
Warning
A hand-entered gift has no invoice, payment, or order behind it. Rhythm’s manual gift form shows a warning banner as a reminder, and you still need to record the gift correctly in your accounting software.
Record the Gift
- Go to Fundraising & Gifts › Gifts.
- Select Create Gift Manually.
- In the Donor card, search for and select the contact or organization who gave the gift, or add a new contact if they do not exist yet.
- In Gift Information, choose the Type: (Cash, In Kind, Matching, Planned, Pledge Payment, Pledge Payment Reversal, or Stock), the Date:, and the Amount:.
- Choose the Fund:, and optionally choose a Campaign: and Appeal:.
- Check This is an anonymous gift if the donor asked not to be named.
- Select Save Changes.
Result
Rhythm saves the gift and takes you to its Gift 360 page. Rhythm does not send a receipt automatically for a hand-entered gift; receipts are sent only from checkout or when you specifically resend one.
Tip
Choosing Planned shows an Anticipated Date: field for when you expect the planned gift, such as a bequest. Choosing Stock shows fields for the Stock Symbol: and Number of Shares:.
Split a Gift Across Several Funds
If a donor wants one gift to support more than one fund, use splits instead of creating separate gifts. Splits keep the donor’s gift count accurate while crediting each fund for its share.
- Check This gift amount is allocated/split to additional funds.
- In the Gift Splits card, select Add a Target Fund.
- Choose a Fund: and enter an Amount: for that split.
- Repeat for additional splits, or select the trash icon to remove one.
Warning
Rhythm does not check whether your splits add up to, or stay under, the gift’s total amount. Add up the splits yourself before saving so you can confirm they are correct.
Credit Other Donors for the Gift
Use soft credits when someone besides the payer also deserves recognition, such as a spouse who gave jointly or an employee who arranged a company gift.
- Check This gift has soft credits to other donors.
- In the Soft Credits card, select Add Individual Soft Credit or Add Organization Soft Credit.
- Choose the person or organization, the Fund:, a Percentage:, and a Reason: such as Other or Matching.
- Repeat for each additional soft credit.
Result
Each soft credit appears on the credited donor’s own Gifts tab and is marked as a soft credit. It does not add to that donor’s own giving totals.
Record a Tribute
- In the Gift Tributes card, check the box marking the gift as a tribute.
- Choose the tribute type, such as in memory of or in honor of, and enter the Honoree Name (required).
- If you want Rhythm to notify the honoree, check the option and choose whether to notify by email or by mail, then fill in the address details.
Assign a Thank-You Gift
If the gift qualifies for a thank-you gift, or premium, assign it here to reduce the gift’s tax-deductible amount by the premium’s value.
- In the Premium/Thank You Gift Assignment card, choose Assigned.
- Select the Premium: from the list. Its Fair Market Value: fills in automatically when the premium has one.
- Choose a Shipping Address:, which is required once you have assigned a premium.
Result
The gift’s tax-deductible amount reflects the premium’s value once you assign one.
Tip
If a premium was offered but the donor turned it down, choose Declined by Donor instead of Assigned so the record shows that a premium was offered.
If It Fails
- "Unable to save gift." A required field is likely missing or invalid, such as the donor, fund, amount, or a type-specific field like stock symbol. Correct the field and save again; Rhythm keeps your other entries.
- You can't save without choosing a donor. The donor must already exist as a contact or organization. Add one from the selector if needed.
- A split or soft-credit row blocks saving even though you unchecked its card. Clearing the splits or soft-credits checkbox hides that card, but any rows you already entered stay in the form. If a row is incomplete, remove it or complete it before saving instead of relying on the checkbox alone.
- A gift became inaccessible after merging duplicate contacts and cannot be corrected retroactively. If a merged gift record cannot be fixed, create a manual gift for the surviving organization or contact instead. Add a note that references the related order so the replacement gift can be understood later.